Spink rides his heart out

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Promising his fiancée that he needed to win the national mountain bike title this weekend before they could marry proved the incentive needed for the eventual winner, Murray Spink. The 30-year-old Melbourne rider rode his heart out to win the tough 105km marathon race in Bendigo. Afterward, he confirmed his wedding date, in two weeks with fiancée Sarah Riley. It was only in the final metres that Spink outsprinted two riders to the line to win in four hours and 30 minutes.

"I promised Sarah, and I just had to win," said Spink after his win over a strong field with more than a dozen top contenders.

The racers enjoyed almost perfect track conditions after some light rain the night before.

The men's race saw an early lead group of 12 riders form and by the 80km mark, only four had been dropped. At the last aid station, a split appeared in the leading bunch with only three remaining in the lead, thereby setting up an exciting final sprint. Spink has won all previous events at this location, but said that this win, his first national title, could also be attributed to his focus on training in any weather, course knowledge and his dual suspension bike.

"Everyone wants a jersey. It will certainly go up on the wall," said Spink, who has never lost a race on this course.

Just three seconds behind was Port Macquarie's Jason English in second place. Victorian Neil Van der Ploeg, who recently won the Tour of Timor, finished third, another one second behind. A disappointed Ben Mather placed fourth after being at the front of the pack while Nick Menager finished fifth - both were just 30 seconds behind the winner.

Veteran John Darcey was the highest placed none-elite category rider in 22nd position.

The women's event saw a return to racing for former national champion Tory Thomas from Victoria. Thomas said she was feeling great and attributed her win to the fitness from the Tour de Timor and her newfound enjoyment of riding.

The women started about 30 minutes before the men.

"You know that was fun," she said after riding in the lead for most of the race. "Peta rode well and it's a shame Jo (Wall) had trouble earlier on."

Wall's pedal came off early in the race leaving another local rider, Peta Mullens, and Jenni King to chase after Thomas. Mullens was an unknown quantity for most of the riders and spectators, but as the Australian Under 23 women's road race champion, her fitness was neve rin doubt though she has not competed in many long distance mountain bike races.

The leaders stayed together until about the 80km mark, when Mullens and Thomas opened up a gap on King. In the final 10km, Thomas worked her way into a two-minute advantage over Mullens and rode herself to a national title.

Mullens placed second with Melbourne's King riding strongly in third.

Young Adelaide rider, James Hanus was the first competitor completed the Gold Triangle half marathon in two hours. He also won the under 18 division.

Winners of the national jersey earned automatic selection for the 2010 Marathon World Championships in Germany.

Results